Inspiring
Who is José Hernández, the inspiration behind a new NASA movie?
Hernández’s life was the inspiration for the film “A Million Miles Away.”
José Hernández is an astronaut. Before that, he was a migrant farmworker, growing up while picking vegetables and fruits. His story is inspirational, one that was adapted into a feature film titled “A Million Miles Away.” The film, starring Michael Peña, debuted in Prime Video on September 15th as one of the most viewed films in streamer.
Here’s what you should know about Hernandez:
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He comes from a family of migrant workers based in California
Hernández was born in California and is the son of Mexican immigrants. He’s shared that his childhood consisted of him and his parents chasing the harvest between California and Mexico. “While others looked forward to summer vacation, I hated it,” said Hernández to CNN. “Summer vacation meant working seven days a week in the fields.”
He’s the first migrant worker to go to space
In 2009, Hernández became the first former migrant worker to travel to space. He boarded the Space Shuttle Discovery alongside another Latino, in the first mission to send two Latino astronauts to space.
Being an astronaut was his life long dream
Hernández wanted to become an astronaut for most of his life. In 1972, he saw Apollo 17’s launch and knew that that was what he wanted to do. "That is when my dream to become an astronaut was born because I would hear him, watch him, then go outside and look at the full moon. I would go back inside and listen to Gene Cernan and for that reason I told myself that would be me, I want to become an astronaut," he said in an interview with The Californian, in 2016.
He was rejected by NASA 11 times
Hernández revealed that becoming an astronaut was no easy feat, being rejected by NASA 11 times. “The sixth year that NASA rejected me, I crumpled up the rejection letter and threw it on the bedroom floor. I was going to quit trying, but she talked me out of it,” he said of his wife, Adela. “I was 41 when I became an astronaut,” he said. “The average age of new astronauts is 34.”
He was involved in the making of the movie
“A Million Miles Away” is a personal story. Not only is it based on Hernández’s memoir “Reaching for the Stars: The Inspiring Story of a Migrant Farmworker Turned Astronaut,” he was also involved in the film itself, having a cameo and consulting with the film’s writer and director in order to nail the story’s accuracy.
